Politics, Identity, and Motivated Reasoning: Post-Convoy Reflections on COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance
Perhaps, in an alternate pandemic universe, the 2022 protests against vaccine mandates for truckers could have played out differently.
In December 2021, the federal government announced a vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, requiring unvaccinated truckers either to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, or to quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Canada [1,2]. This decision sparked immediate criticism from the Canadian Trucking Alliance [2], and before long, protesters aiming to “get rid of the vaccine mandates and the passports” [3] had raised over seven million dollars on GoFundMe [1]. On January 29, 2022, a large convoy of truckers arrived in downtown Ottawa, where they remained for approximately three weeks, during which time local residents reported extreme noise violations, harassment, and property damage by protesters [4] — eventually resulting in the first-ever invocation of the Emergencies Act by the federal government in mid-February [5].
Original illustration by Cassandra Seal
Even without taking a particular stance on the issue, it is evident that there were valid points on either side of this debate. At this point, there were already high rates of COVID-19 vaccination among truckers in Canada [6]. Additionally, COVID-19 transmission was already ubiquitous on a global scale [7], and existing vaccines had recently become less effective at preventing infection following the emergence of the Omicron variant [8]. Moreover, upon reaching the grim milestone of two years of pandemic life, few among us enjoyed the protective measures that had become commonplace — such as mandatory mask-wearing policies, vaccine mandates, capacity limits, and physical distancing. The longing for a return to normalcy, manifested in the loosening of pandemic restrictions, was a feeling that many of us could relate to. All this considered, it does not seem unreasonable to propose that many Canadians could potentially have sympathized with the truckers, even if they did not entirely agree with them.
The problem arose when the rhetoric and actions of many protesters moved beyond the originally publicized objectives of the convoy. It was not long before the protests in Ottawa and across the country became bastions of racism [9], conspiracy theories, and other right-wing extremist sentiments [10], and it was soon revealed that multiple convoy organizers had existing ties to white supremacist organizations [11]. Quickly, it became evident that vaccine mandates were not the main point of contention for many demonstrators — rather, the convoy had become a generalized attack against perceived slights against them and their personal freedoms. Moreover, the fact that these extremist sentiments were expressed not only by individual protesters, but by the protest organizers themselves, suggests that these views were not simply those of certain individuals, nor of a fringe minority of demonstrators. As a national state of emergency was declared after two weeks of truckers occupying Ottawa, polls suggested that the majority of Canadians were opposed to the convoy, and approximately 57% felt that the protests were truly about “right-wing white supremacy groups” rather than vaccine mandates [12].
“it does not seem unreasonable to propose that many Canadians could potentially have sympathized with the truckers, even if they did not entirely agree with them”
Before moving forward, it is important to emphasize that there is nothing inherently wrong with having questions or concerns about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, or any other vaccine for that matter. There are numerous reasons why an individual could be hesitant to be vaccinated, including mistrust of governments and medical authorities due to historical and ongoing abuse (a phenomenon which has recently been studied in communities of colour in Canada and the United States) [13,14,15], needle phobias [16], complex medical histories or prior adverse reactions to vaccines, or questions about the rapid production or potential side effects of the COVID vaccine [17,18]. These concerns are valid, and vaccine-hesitant individuals should feel comfortable asking their physicians and other healthcare providers any questions that they might have about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine to help them to make an informed decision. But a particularly challenging issue emerges when decisions about vaccination become intertwined with one’s sociopolitical identity. When an individual’s refusal to be vaccinated is not rooted in a genuine concern about the vaccine itself, but rather in a larger sense of political ideology, how can their mind possibly be changed?
While science may often be perceived as apolitical by the general public, the division of scientific opinion along partisan lines is far from new — notable examples of politically-contentious scientific issues include evolution and the climate crisis. Vaccine uptake was another such issue even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with some suggesting that attitudes toward vaccination did not appear to be divided along party lines [19], while other research contradicted this analysis [20]. A wide range of research from the past two years, however, has suggested that trust in the COVID-19 vaccine and other public health measures can consistently be tied to specific political ideologies, as well as some individual values and characteristics that may relate to these ideologies [21, 22, 23].
“[A] particularly challenging issue emerges when decisions about vaccination become intertwined with one’s sociopolitical identity.
When an individual’s refusal to be vaccinated is not rooted in a genuine concern about the vaccine itself, but rather in a larger sense of political ideology, how can their mind possibly be changed? “
In her book Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science, Dr. Maya Goldenberg of the University of Guelph describes several studies in social psychology that may explain why anti-vaccine views are particularly difficult to modify. One particularly noteworthy study, conducted by Nyhan et al. (2014), found that presenting vaccine-hesitant parents with pamphlets debunking the common myth that vaccines cause autism actually led to a decrease in intent to vaccinate, which was thought to result from the parents coming up with new reasons to mistrust the vaccines to preserve their initial opinion [24]. Social psychologists have previously described this phenomenon using terms such as motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, which denote the tendency to overvalue information that supports one’s existing beliefs [24]. Motivated reasoning is thought to result from the desire to avoid cognitive dissonance, which is the feeling of distress resulting from a lack of congruence between aspects of one’s life or identity [24]. This is also closely linked with the phenomenon of cultural cognition of risk, which refers to the evaluation of risk based on how others within one’s “cultural” circle would define that risk [24]. Overall, this suggests that those who are opposed to vaccination, especially when this opposition stems from some aspect of their political or social identity, are less likely to change their minds when presented with facts that contradict their views. By extension, it seems that the best approach for changing the minds of vaccine naysayers is to do nothing at all.
But this finding is counterintuitive — how can the best response to correcting misinformation be to not correct it? In fact, removing false information and replacing it with accurate information has actually been a major element of combatting the COVID-19 “misinfodemic" — that is, the rapid proliferation of COVID-related misinformation and/or disinformation on social media platforms. This is exactly what social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have done by introducing automated fact checks and disclaimers for posts related to the pandemic [25]. To be clear, these measures are useful and indeed necessary to ensure that misleading or outright false information about the pandemic does not spread to a larger audience. That being said, the issue arises when we assume that these measures are sufficient to change the minds of those who are already opposed to vaccination. In the battle for vaccine trust and acceptance, social psychology suggests that one cannot simply fight fire with facts.
A more effective approach is to acknowledge the concerns of individuals who are opposed to vaccination in a safe and non-judgemental environment. One smaller scale example of this practice is the use of motivational interviewing in the PromovaC (PROMOtion of VAccination in Canada) project, in which researchers meet with vaccine-hesitant new parents in maternity wards to discuss their concerns about vaccination [26, 27]. Early trials of the program found a 15% increase in intention to vaccinate, which resulted in a 7% increase in vaccine coverage among 7-month-old infants [26]. The World Health Organization has suggested that this intervention could be implemented on a wider scale by including motivational interviewing in training programs for immunization providers and other healthcare workers who are involved in vaccine counseling [28]. That being said, it is worth noting that the recent ties between vaccine opposition and white supremacist sentiments complicates the external validity of this approach. While techniques such as motivational interviewing, which promote non-judgement and identity protection, have been shown to improve receptiveness to information that they would otherwise reject, the improper use of these techniques in this particular context could risk constituting complacency — or worse, complicity — in the discriminatory beliefs that these individuals may hold. Thus, any efforts to address vaccine opposition through non-judgemental means would also need to balance the interests of equity and justice. Additionally, previous research has suggested that some minority ethnocultural groups are less likely to respond to motivational interviewing than others [29], which would certainly be an important consideration when introducing this intervention to the general population.
“any efforts to address vaccine opposition through non-judgemental means would also need to balance the interests of equity and justice“
One thing is for certain — nothing is simple about promoting vaccine acceptance, particularly when opposition to vaccination is so tightly linked with other aspects of an individual’s identity. With this in mind, the first step is to address the larger issues of political division that we face today, and approach those who share different viewpoints with compassion and understanding, while also not endorsing racist or otherwise discriminatory beliefs. It is an incredibly fine line to walk, but when it comes to public health during the pandemic and beyond, the stakes are high enough that we must at least try.
Asha Mior (she/her) is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, studying Global Health, Political Science, and Psychology. Her main academic and research interests at the moment include public health policy, accessible health communication, and the complex relationships between systemic discrimination and health outcomes.
References
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